David,I sure wish I could afford a diesel pickup but anything worth having is nearly $10,000! Used ones are terribly high priced.I crunched the numbers and it wont work. Looked in an area paper and a 97 Dodge 2500 diesel with 230,000 miles was $9995.A 2002 Dodge 3500 diesel 4x4 with 216,000 miles,new tranny and clutch was $7500 which probably isnt too bad.It must be pretty beat up. With a fresh 454 I'll have a little over $2,200 in my old 74 C-30 Chev.I'll put around 8,000 miles on it this year as I'll have about 9-10 combines to haul from Kansas and OK.After that its staying real close to home. In 8000 miles the C-30 will burn about $2300 in fuel and and an older diesel might burn about $1300 in fuel.Road diesel is $2.49 and gas is $2.08 here today.If diesel were cheaper it would sure help. The old Cockshutt really isnt in as bad of shape as it looks.We may save the spreader belt.LOL
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